After winning the Metro League Championship and taking second in state last year, the Eastside Catholic baseball team is at it again this season, boasting a 6-0 record as of March 31.

“This is an amazing group of young men, both on and off the field,” coach Kyle Larsen wrote in an email. “These boys have an incredible work ethic and great team chemistry.”

Much of the team is still intact from last season with several returning seniors, including left-handed pitcher Alex Foley, of Issaquah. Foley was named first-team All-State last year and was the team’s winning pitcher in its latest game when Eastside Catholic beat Lakeside, 4-0, March 26. During that game, Foley pitched six innings and earned seven strikeouts.

Parks survey

The parks bond survey results are going to be discussed soon by the City Council. I’ve had a chance to review the results and they tell more about the survey designers than anything.

The top four funding priorities are based on vague, leading questions that are hard to say no to. “Protecting wildlife habitat” is a top funding priority. What if the survey included questions like “protecting children’s recreational opportunities” or “preserving Issaquah’s natural heritage?”

The Issaquah School Board has been named a Board of Distinction by the Washington State School Directors’ Association.

The association’s Boards of Distinction awards honor school boards that demonstrate effective use of the Washington School Board Standards. The standards promote researched-based governance practices that lead to high levels of student and district achievement. This year, nine districts with more than 9,000 students earned the honor.

Award applicants submit an essay and supporting evidence to demonstrate how they are putting the standards into practice. In 2012, applicants addressed the following:

Respecting and advocating mutual understanding of the roles and responsibilities of board members and the superintendent.

Linda Baker and eve’ Martinez-Petrut, co-presidents of Issaquah Women’s Club, recently accepted the award for LifeWire (formerly the Eastside Domestic Violence Program) at a breakfast meeting to thank the organization for their continued support of LifeWire’s scholarshipprogram and contributions to assist women in transition. Read more

Restaurant reviews are a regular feature of The Issaquah Press. Reviewers visit restaurants unannounced and pay in full for their meals.

Nutritionists often extoll the virtues of making lunch the largest meal of the day, leaving a person the rest of the afternoon to digest and burn calories.

Big House BBQ isn’t the place for calorie counters, but for those looking to spend their afternoon with a belly full of Memphis-style slow-cooked beef, pork and chicken, a stop by the big red trailer across the street from Home Depot is in order.

As essentially Issaquah’s only recurring mobile food truck, Big House is not much for aesthetics — nor should it be. Three picnic tables, a canvas tent and a modest trailer with the smell of smoked meat wafting out are all that greet the diner.

Knives on planes policy is nonsensical

It’s been almost a dozen years since 9/11. Memories of that day have faded, but not if you are an airline traveler in a long security line at the airport, questioning whether the added security actually protects passengers from terrorists.

After all this time, we’ve learned to accept the new norm in airport security. After turning over pocketknives and having the short file on nail clippers removed for all these years, the Transportation Security Administration’s new policy allows small knives back onto planes. We agree with flight attendants: Little knives can be big security risks.

Police heard screeching tires at 11:19 p.m. March 16 in the Pine Lake Shopping Center. Police pulled the driver over and found him to be a 17-year-old Eastlake High School student. The officer called the boy’s mother. The boy was “genuinely apologetic,” so police released him with a warning.

Sound the alarm

Police responded to an audible residential alarm in the 2900 block of 222nd Place Southeast at 5:28 p.m. March 17. When an officer arrived, an unsecured door at the back of the house was found, but no suspects and no signs of burglary. Police were able to secure the home before leaving.